If you’ve got a Tech Geek in your household and are struggling with what to buy them for Christmas then there are some great products from Huawei that may just brighten up said, Tech Geek’s Christmas.
Huawei have come a long way in just a few years, going from maker of phones at the lower end of the market to producing well priced, high end Smartphones, Tablets and Wearables. In fact when it comes to Smartphones, Huawei is now the thirs largest Smartphone manufacturer in the world and in New Zealand they have managed to capture around 20% market share. You don’t reach those lofty heights without producing some top quality products. We’ve put together a selection of Huawei Products that we think would make a great Christmas presents. In fact, these are just the sort of gifts I’d like to see under my Christmas Tree (hint hint to the family).
Smartphones
Huawei has a great range of Smartphones, ranging from budget entry level, through to premium high end phones. There are two stand out phones that any Android loving geek should be more than happy to have, they are the Huawei P9 and the brand spanking new just released Mate 9.
We did a review on the P9 earlier this year and were mighty impressed by it. The P9 has a retail price of $899, though on special you could snap it up for $749. Featuring a 5.2 Inch IPS Full HD Screen the P9 is one of the best Android smartphones on the market. The killer feature on it is the dual lens Leica cameras on the rear of the phone. One camera takes monochromatic black and white photos, the other takes colour photos. Thanks to the handy work of the very snappy Kirin 955 processor inside, the P9 then merges the two photos together to capture photos that feature impressive detail and market leading contrast. The P9 runs on Huawei’s custom EMUI overlay which won’t be for everyone but is especially handy for users who are used to iPhones since it is the closest Android overlay to iOS.
The Mate 9 is the latest phone to be released by Huawei, having just been released within the last week and coming with a price tag of $1,099. We are yet to review the Mate 9 but everything we’ve read suggests it’s a classy phone. The Mate 9 is the phablet of the family and features a massive 5.9 inch Full HD screen. It runs on Android 7.0 and features Huawei’s EMUI 5.0 which now gives users the ability to have an app draw and provides a flavour of Android that tries to fuse the best features from Android OS with the best of iOS. Phablets aren’t for everyone but if having extra screen real state is important then the Mate 9 is well worth consideration. The killer feature has to be the dual lens Leica rear camera that features much the same technology as the P9 so you get that black and white camera and colour camera to create vivid high detail images, granted we are yet to put it through it’s paces so can’t comment on how great it is in practice but the P9 was great so this should be as good if not better.
Tablets
We haven’t had the pleasure of reviewing a Huawei’s tablet range yet but Huawei have produced some great smartphones and their MediaPad and MateBook both make for compelling options worth consideration.
The Huawei MediaPad T1 comes in two varieties, a 7 inch model and a 10 inch model. The 7 inch version will set you back $179 and the 10 inch version $399. Android tablets, particularly at the cheaper end of the spectrum have struggled to produce anything that is able to perform well enough to not serve a purpose other than throwing at a wall. Huawei;s MediaPad range could well be the budget friendly tablet that can deliver performance without commanding a premium price tag. The MediaPad’s feature a 1.2GHz Quad Core Processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB of internal memory. The specs mean that for the average person wanting a tablet to play a few games, browse the interweb, check out social media and watch YouTube, these should be able to handle those applications without too much trouble at all. Multitasking may be a bit of a stretch but basic uses should be fine. The MediaPad would also make a decent introduction to Tablets for the younger members of the family.
The Huawei Matebook is the premium tablet in the Huawei family. It is akin to an iPad Pro with the accompanying keyboard cover and is designed with business users in mind. It isn’t currently available in New Zealand but shouldn’t be far away, our advice here is slip your Christmas Giftee at least $1,000 (probably a bit more) and tell them to use it to buy a MateBook when it’s available. The MateBook features a 12 inch QHD IPS screen, 6th gen Intel Core m processor up to 3.1GHz, 4 or 8GB RAM and either Windows 10 Home or Pro depending on which flavour of the MateBook you go for. Running on Windows 10 means that this tablet will operate much more like a PC with the benefits of being housed within a tablet which makes it powerful, portable and strong on performance. We haven’t review it yet but all signs point to this being a fantastic alternative to the iPad Pro or Microsoft Surface at a fraction of the cost.
Wearables
When it comes to Wearables, particularly Smartwatches there is one Watch that reigns supreme and that is the Huawei Watch. When I say reigns supreme I mean it, in my opinion the Apple Watch doesn’t even come close. The Huawei Watch is a premium smartwatch that actually looks and feels like a watch but with all the benefits of being a wearable device. Custom watch faces are available and your favourite apps will be able to connect to it so you’ll have notifications on the wrist. To go with that you can manage calls and messages right from the wrist too so you’ll be able to keep the phone in the pocket more times than not. The Huawei Watch is going to look great on the wrist in a casual or formal setting and is a great way to show people that you are tech savvy but uncompromising with style as well. Huawei Watch will set you back around $599 but is worth every cent!